Welcome to Better Know An Umpire, an effort to educate ourselves on the human elements who have ultimate decision-making power over some 2,500 Major League Baseball games a year. (All cumulative statistics are through the 2011 season, unless otherwise stated.)

Schrieber has the highest BB/9 of any umpire for the period under study. He also has the lowest K/BB ratio. ... You would think an umpire with so tight a strike zone would have a stratospheric R/9, but that's not the case with Schrieber. ... At two-thirds the rate, Schrieber's career ejection rate reinforces the image of the easygoing Oregonian ...